A Prank Gone Wrong
by allthewaytothegraveyard
Summary: James and Sirius decide celebrate their graduation with a big prank at the Quidditch World Cup. They had no idea just how big it would be.


**School: **Durmstrang

**Year:** 6

**Theme: **Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes

**Main Prompt:** [Event] The Quidditch World Cup

**Side Prompt:** [Pairing of any kind] James Potter and Sirius Black

**Word Count:** 1895

**AN:** ICWQC stands for International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee

* * *

**A Prank Gone Wrong**

James had played a lot of good pranks over the years. He was one of the Marauders, after all. They'd had plenty of experience pranking Snape and the Slytherins. And by now they'd gotten pretty good, or at least they thought so. So of course, James and Sirius thought a big prank was a good idea to celebrate the end of school. Lily disagreed, but they considered her opinion in these matters to be less than their own, more experienced minds.

James's parents had won tickets for the Quidditch World Cup—England versus Peru. Neither elder Potter were as Quidditch-obsessed as James or Sirius, so they naturally gave them to the two boys to celebrate the end of school and their NEWTs. Thus, early one morning in July, they Apparated to the campground in Dartmoor.

The two of them found the tent easier to set up than expected, and the two young men quickly found themselves sitting in front of it. It didn't take long before they became bored, and that was when the plotting usually started. It wasn't any different this time as Sirius looked up at James. "So, Mr. Prongs," he said with a mischievous smile. "Any ideas?"

"Not yet, Mr. Padfoot. But I have a feeling we're going to need something big. After all, we won't be able to prank much more now that we've left Hogwarts.".

Sirius sat in thought for a few minutes, until slowly, a sly smile began to spread across his face. "Well, Prongs, we could always look around. Maybe in places we're not really supposed to be."

"Moony wouldn't approve" James mentioned.

Sirius grinned. "That's why it's a good idea."

* * *

Somehow, the two Marauders found themselves in an area that was _definitely_ off-limits, searching for prank ideas and wandering the halls while hiding from ICWQC officials that walked by. _Sneaking around is so much harder without the Marauder's Map_, James thought. Luckily, they still had an advantage.

"Get under here," James hissed, pulling out his Invisibility Cloak. The two of them huddled under it and crept around the next corner. Unfortunately, the hallways were rather narrow and they turned at the same time as yet _another_ ICWQC official was passing through. He ran straight into them, and they fell backwards, not daring to move from where they had landed, sprawled out on the floor.

"Who's there?" the official called sharply. Cautiously, James pulled Sirius up, careful to keep them both under the Cloak. It was harder for them to hide their ankles under the edges than it had been when they were younger. They pressed against the wall as the man, still looking around suspiciously, continued past them. When he was out of sight, they both sighed in relief.

"That was close," Sirius whispered.

James nodded, motioning to continue their search of the halls. Luckily, the next few encounters went much more smoothly, and they were able to pass through the building undetected.

Suddenly, a group of people passed wearing Quidditch robes. _This is the Peruvian national team!_ James could see by Sirius's wide-eyed look that he was just as awed by being this close to the renowned Quidditch players as himself.

Though Peru had never made it to the World Cup finals before, their new seeker, Elena Alvarez, had been catching the Snitch in record times. She walked through last of all, following the others in the direction James and Sirius had just come from.

Sirius gestured at the door to the room the players had been in, the question clear in his eyes.

James shrugged. _Why not?_ They needed to find something for a prank, and here was an opportunity. They slipped into the room now that the coast was clear.

Closing the door behind them, they pulled off the Cloak to have a look around. Looking at each other, they obviously had the same thought: _That's all there is?_

It was just like the changing rooms at Hogwarts, only a little bigger and cleaner. No fancy decorations, nothing magical, no luxuries. Disappointed, the two boys set off in search of something, _anything_, worth their time.

"We can't do anything too serious. This is really big, I don't want to mess it up." They had discussed it before, but James wanted to make sure.

"I know, Prongs. I'm not going to mess up the World Cup. How dumb do you think I am?" Sirius tapped his wand idly on a box. "We need to find the controls for the displays."

It would be easy to create some chaos by changing the magical displays that showed advertisements and the game's score.

Just then, a bright light flashed around the room. James blinked the spots out of his eyes and saw Sirius looking sheepish. He had quickly pocketed his wand.

James shook his head. "Be more careful, Padfoot."

It was obvious that Sirius wanted to argue, but after a few seconds, he just nodded.

"Well, there's nothing here," James announced. "Let's look around, find the display controls… see what we can do."

Sirius nodded quickly this time, so they hid under the cloak and carefully left the changing room.

* * *

_How does anyone find their way around here?_ James wondered.

After many wrong turns in the maze of identical hallways, they finally found the room they had been looking for.

Sirius immediately flopped into the comfortable chair in front of the screens. They displayed the whole stadium, like the Muggle _vid-ee-oh cameras_ Lily had told them about. It was clear that the game was about to start. James leaned forward, reaching for the panel of buttons, but Sirius blocked his hand.

"Not yet," he advised. "Let the game start, then we'll mess with them a bit. For now, we should enjoy having the best seats." He gestured at the screens that showed each player as they flew out. They watched the match for a while. It was like no other game they had seen. When England scored, they cheered.

When Peru scored their first points, Sirius started to press the buttons. Then James noticed it. _Something's wrong…_

"Wait. Wait, Padfoot. Look at that Bludger." Sirius looked over, his brows furrowing. Then he seemed to see it, too. When a Peruvian Beater hit one of the Bludgers, it started to act strangely—jerking up and down, flying in circles, and finally shooting off into the distance.

The English Beaters seemed to be doing fine with the other Bludger. But, as soon as a Peruvian beater hit it, that Bludger also raced off madly.

On the other displays, they could see people in the crowds were starting to turn towards each other and mutter. Sirius and James stared at each other, horrified.

"You don't think that…?"

"…something I did just jinxed the Beaters' bats? I just wanted to mess up the scores, not this. But of course, it had to go wrong," Sirius finished.

James only groaned. _We should get out of here and find those bludgers, before someone figures out what we did._

* * *

The Department of Magical Games and Sports had started a hunt for the rogue Bludgers almost two hours ago. James and Sirius had volunteered to join in, more out of guilt than anything else. They still had no leads. _At the speed the balls had been going, they could be anywhere._

"Merlin, I wish we decided not to do a prank. Why don't we listen to Moony more often?" Sirius complained. "And now we're searching for Bludgers that could be bloody _anywhere_ right now because I accidentally tapped my wand in the wrong place and ruined the World Cup."

"Well, we did a prank," James offered. "Just not the one we planned to do."

It wasn't much of a comfort to either of them.

Just then, an antelope Patronus raced up and announced, "Black and Potter, the Bludgers have been spotted in Muggle London. We'll need assistance repairing the damage." Then it dissolved into mist.

Resigning himself to a long and exhausting night, James turned to Sirius. "London?"

"London," he confirmed.

They Disapparated.

* * *

Charing Cross was in chaos. Ministry workers were everywhere, some swooping overhead on brooms, others diverting the attention of Muggles. The Obliviators would have their hands full later.

Someone ran up to the two Marauders—one of the Auror trainers who already knew them. "Potter, Black, The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes need more fliers to help with catching the Bludgers." He handed them a couple of brooms. "Take these. If we get them soon, we can prevent them from causing further damage." From above, they could hear glass breaking. "Or maybe not. Now get going!" With that, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

James winced as a Bludger crashed into the street then darted away. With Sirius, they jumped on their brooms and took to the sky.

James was a Chaser, not a Beater. He didn't know how to deal with the Bludgers. Apprehensive, he followed after their destructive wake. _What should I do? I hope they'll be caught before anybody gets hurt._

Sirius was a Beater—well, kind of. He played sometimes for fun, but he didn't train properly with the team. He was doing better than James, though. Together with some of the others, he was helping to trap and catch one of the Bludgers.

James glimpsed the other Bludger flying towards him and reflexively shot a Stunning Spell. The Bludger dodged and streaked away. Taking a deep breath, he flew after it, still casting spells that he thought might bring it down. Someone else shot out ropes that the ball quickly got tangled up in.

James landed, his heart still thudding in his ears. A couple of Ministry workers started to haul the Bludger away.

"You might want to get out of here. The Obliviators are doing a mass memory wipe," one informed him.

James turned and spotted Sirius across the street. Their eyes met. Sirius nodded, mouthed 'the Leaky Cauldron' and Disapparated. James followed suit.

* * *

When he got to the crowded pub, Remus and Lily were also there, already talking with Sirius. As soon as Lily spotted them, she rushed over and embraced James.

"We heard about the cursed Bludgers! What happened? Are you alright?"

"We're fine, Lils," he assured her.

"So what happened?" Remus asked.

"Er, well—" Sirius started.

"We don't know. They just started acting weird."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're not a very good liar, James."

"I'm not lying!" he exclaimed indignantly. "It's true. We don't know what happened."

"What _do_ you know, then?" Remus asked.

"Well, _might_ have been us—" James began.

"I knew it!" Lily cried.

"—but we didn't do it on purpose, I swear," James explained. "We were in Peru's locker room first, looking for a good prank."

"We didn't mean to do anything like that," Sirius added. "I just tapped my wand against a box and I think that changed something about the Beaters' bats."

"So you just accidentally, nonverbally messed up a complicated enchantment," Remus summarized.

James and Sirius glanced at each other.

"Well… yes."

Remus shook his head. "Only you, Sirius."


End file.
